Because of unforeseen security costs, haphazard planning and shifting priorities, the U.S.-financed reconstruction program in Iraq will not complete scores of projects that were promised to help rebuild the country, according to a U.S. oversight agency. Only 49 of the 136 projects that were originally pledged to improve Iraqi water and sanitation will be finished, along with about 300 of an initial 425 projects to provide electricity, according to the report released Thursday. The planners of the rebuilding effort did not take into account hundreds of millions of dollars in administrative costs, and mostly did not realize that the United States would have to spend money to keep things like power plants and sewage treatment plants running once they had been built, the report says. That ultimately reduced the money available for rebuilding projects. ... http://www.iht.com

Ridges of Arctic Ocean sea ice were shoved onto a Barrow road in quantities not seen in nearly three decades. Two ice surges, known to Alaska Natives as ivus, stunned residents who had never seen large blocks of ice rammed ashore. "It just looked like a big old mountain of ice," said L.A. Leavitt, 19, who left his nightshift job at the city early Tuesday to check out the ridges. Ivus are like frozen tsunamis and crash ashore violently. They have killed hunters and are among the Arctic's most feared natural phenomena. Residents said the northernmost ivu, about 20 feet high and 100 feet long, contained car-size blocks and left coastal Stevenson Road with only one lane. ...http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1551373

Afghanistan may need foreign troops for another 5-10 years to combat terrorism and insurgents, President Hamid Karzai said on Friday. Karzai said his government was constructing jails to get some 100 Afghans back from U.S. prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which houses about 500 inmates. The construction, he said, would take about two years."When the Afghans leave that facility, it's none of our business what happens there," he said in answer to queries about prisoners kept in detention for years without charges.He was speaking to journalists at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.After the September 11 attacks, U.S.-led forces overthrew the ruling Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda network was blamed for the carnage....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060127/wl_nm/davos_afghan_karzai_dc

The daughter of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet has dropped her request for asylum in the United States, a U.S. official said Friday.If Lucia Pinochet’s bid is indeed withdrawn she probably will be ordered out of the country, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity.The Department of Homeland Security wanted to make sure she was not acting under coercion, the official said. Pinochet, 60, was detained Wednesday when she attempted to enter the United States at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, arriving on a flight from Argentina....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11062670/from/RSS/

One registered Republican won't be able to vote in the next election unless he appears at a Berks County Elections Board to explain the signature on his registration form.The man is registered as Paul S. Sewell, Elections Director Deborah M. Olivieri said, but his form is signed "God."County Solicitor Alan S. Miller said Sewell claims his "God" signature is merely a legal mark like the "X" used by people who are illiterate. Sewell, 40, said he will be happy to explain. As the owner of a bail enforcement agency, he finds fugitives, he said....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11064137/from/RSS/

Two temporary employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were arrested after soliciting bribes from a contractor supplying food for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina, the FBI announced Friday.Andrew Rose and Lloyd Holleman, who ran a FEMA camp near New Orleans, asked for a $20,000 bribe in exchange for inflating the catering contract, Justice Department officials in Washington said.The contractor notified authorities, said Matt Chapman of the FBI, which began an investigation with the Department of Homeland Security in December.The contractor, whose name was not released, gave Rose and Holleman $10,000 each Friday, and the men were arrested and charged with soliciting bribes and fraud, officials said....http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/27/katrina.body/index.html?section=cnn_us